


Tears in the Night

by ShyWhovian



Series: Dad Five AU [3]
Category: Doctor Who (1963)
Genre: Eloping isn't all it's cracked up to be, F/M, Five is a good dad, Gen, Happy ending though, I should stop, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Tegan is sad, as always, bad situation, everything is sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-11
Updated: 2017-04-11
Packaged: 2018-10-17 14:55:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10596342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShyWhovian/pseuds/ShyWhovian
Summary: Tegan Jovanka never cries, ever. But when one bad situation pushes her to the limit, what can she do but think it over and hope everything will be alright again?





	

The fact that she rarely ever cried was a point of pride for sixteen year old Tegan Jovanka. Not even at the worst of times would she even shed a tear, after all with a father like hers there was never any point but even she had to admit that she was reaching her limits. 

It had been nearly three months since she'd run away with Jared and at the time it had seemed like a brilliant idea. Almost one of the adventures she'd go on with her family. Now she wasn't so sure. Being stuck in a dingy hotel room with no phone or credit card or even her TARDIS key was not her idea of fun, this felt more like being stuck in a prison cell than being on a romantic escapade. Actually, she'd been in better prisons than this before now, she mused staring round their latest accommodation with disgust. The entire building smelt like a mixture of ash, alcohol and pee, so much so that she scarcely dared breathing though her nose and even breathing through her mouth was perilous. The room was cramped and had mould growing on the ceiling, the carpet was sticky and smelled musty and the bed had a suspicious brown stain right in the middle of it that she hadn't dared go near since they'd arrived, leading to very uncomfortable nights.

All in all, it was one of the worst places she'd ever been to and right now it served as her own personal hell as she waited desperately for her boyfriend to get back with food. That was another issue that had quickly reared its head, lack of credit card meant lack of money and therefore lack of food. She had no idea how much they even had any more, though somehow Jared kept finding pocket change in the oddest of places; a fiver in his sock, two pounds buried deep in his pocket and on one memorable occasion twenty pounds on the floor. Or at least that was what he said and she very much wanted to believe him though a voice deep inside knew otherwise and didn't want to say anything for fear of making the situation even worse than it was.

Her stomach growled impatiently and she groaned, pulling her knees up even closer to her chest, briefly switching on the cheap telly in the corner of the room just so she could see the time. Nine o'clock. He'd been gone nearly three hours now. Tegan sighed, he'd only been going to the chippie down the street, he should've been gone fifteen minutes maximum, so where was he? Again, her conscience told her where he was but she beat it down. Jared was a good guy, he wouldn't just go out to the pub with friends and leave her starving. He was her best friend. He had been at least.

They'd met way back at the beginning when they'd first decided to stay on Earth for a while and had hit it off. Jared was cool, like Turlough except without all of the things that made him a brother, he was her best guy friend. So it was only natural when as they got older they'd started going on pretend dates, going to the cinema, to McDonalds, down to the park anywhere they could think of that was cliché and supposedly romantic. Of course, then they'd left after that business with Peri and her teacher and that time away had given her some time to think but then just like that they were back again, in the same place and it was two years later. She had grown up, so had he and he still liked her so when pretend dates became real ones and then even more, that was all fine because he was still Jared. But now it was starting to dawn on her, had been for a while actually, that everything Turlough had ever said about him was true. 

Why had she been such an idiot? She knew the answer to that. She'd thought she was in love, that nothing bad could ever happen because her and Jared were meant to be. She'd been so stupid. Stupid and blind. And of course, it would take months of going from house to house, staying in hotel rooms, running from police cars and near starvation just to make her see that, wouldn't it? She always had been stubborn, everyone always said so.

Tegan sighed heavily. She missed her family so much, she wondered what they were doing right now. Well, it was nine o'clock so her dad had probably already put Adric and Nyssa to bed and Peri was going to be going up soon, so she would be curled up on the sofa reading one of her many books or watching a movie with Turlough. Dad would be in the armchair next to them, quietly watching and offering the occasional quiet comment. Everything would be nice and normal. The Australian wondered if they even missed her and if they were looking for her. Of course they were, her mind cried, they were her family and her dad would sooner rip his own arm off than let anything happen to her but...well maybe they weren't, it had been three months now. There was no way of finding her, the only thing that could've tracked her was her TARDIS key and that was shut in one of Jared's drawers back at his apartment, even if they found it it wouldn't be any use.

No, she would just be stuck here forever, wouldn't she? Too afraid to even try to run away even though she could. She could run down to the payphone at the end of the road, ask for a reverse call and phone home, dad'd pick her up in a millisecond but there was the risk of running into him and having to explain what she was doing and that might take her from slightly irritated and unhappy girlfriend to abused partner. She didn't want that, the bruises on her arm from when he'd grabbed her too roughly were bad enough. 

She sighed again and buried her head in her arms, wondering sadly when she'd become so much of a coward. Before now she would've done it in a heartbeat, she would've run away and given that good for nothing toerag at piece of her mind and then possibly punched him because she was Tegan Jovanka and she was known for being loud and bossy and opinionated and she'd never been afraid of anyone or anything. It was an image that suited her just fine and was true to boot. So why couldn't that Tegan just take her over right now and replace this useless one? 

There were footsteps downstairs and voices, maybe he was coming back or maybe it was just the loud couple in the room below theirs getting ready for yet another night of loud sex. She rolled her eyes and wondered if smothering herself with one of the smelly pillows was a good solution, probably not. A third sigh and that was all it took for the waterworks to start properly and she cried silently into her arms, not even bothering to stop when she heard the door open and a figure step inside without the telltale rustle of a plastic bag. Great, he'd come home without food again. 

She lifted her head to give him a watery glower and stopped, staring in shock. It couldn't be...it wasn't....no. Was it? Her eyes widened in relieved amazement, it was! It was him. She sprang up with more energy than she'd had in weeks and launched herself at the man in the room, burying her face in his chest, tears of joy flowing freely down her cheeks as she apologised frantically to him.

The Doctor simply smiled happily, burying his nose into his eldest daughter's spiky hair and kissing the top of her head. “It's alright now Tegan, I've got you. You're safe. It's time to go home.”

**Author's Note:**

> I hate coming up with titles, I really do.


End file.
